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“Hey, Lluvia!” Balor called out to the farmer, as she rode her way up the road, heading for town.
She carefully steered her mystical violet mare to a stop before him and his cart. “Is something wrong?” she asked, clearly puzzled by being called out of the blue. Normally, if anyone needs her for help, they usually ask in advance by letter. Rarely ever was there a terrible emergency.
“No, but...” Balor paused to chew on his lip, thinking over his question carefully. “You see, something has been bothering me for a while now, and instead of assuming it for myself, I think it’s better if you I ask you directly. But first, are you busy?”
Lluvia had plans to go to the mines to gather some materials, but she had to admit to herself that she has been spending way too much time there. “Nope.”
“Then meet me at the inn in a bit. I do owe you a few drinks anyway, as thanks for helping me out,” he continued with a playful wink.
A brief laugh escaped from the farmer. “Sure, Balor.”
Lluvia pulled off her gloves as she entered The Sleeping Dragon Inn, and noticed it was just Reina managing the register. “Good morning, Lluvia,” Reina greeted her. “Came by for some lunch?”
“No, I’m just waiting for Balor.”
“Oh? Is it a date?” Reina asked, in a lighthearted, teasing manner.
Lluvia couldn’t help herself but chuckle as she shook her head. “No, no, nothing like that. He wanted to talk to me about something. I don’t know what it is about, yet, but I might as well take him up on his offer of whatever drinks he plans to buy.”
“I see!”
And as if prompted on time, Balor had arrived. “Ah, hello, Reina. Are the parents out?”
“Yep! It’s just me!”
“Ah. Well, do you mind if we have a bottle of wine and two glasses?”
“Sure!”
“Thanks!”
In no time, Reina had gathered one of the richest wine the bar holds, and passed it to the merchant, along with two cups, in exchange for Tesserae. He gave her a wink before turning to Lluvia. “Let’s go upstairs,” he pointed to the upper floor, above the chimney.
Lluvia nodded, and gave Reina a warm smile, as she followed the merchant upstairs. With a small table between them, where he placed the now opened bottle of wine to pour into the cups, Balor gave the farmer her’s. As she took it into her hands, Lluvia can’t help but be reminded of the one time they tried to celebrate, only to have a third party rudely intruding in, sour the mood, and then leave with the wine at the time.
And remembering that third party in particular made Lluvia nervous. Does Balor know their little history? Or is she jumping ahead? If so, how much does he know?
As she fell into rumination, Balor noticed how the usually calm and collected farmer’s hands tremble. “Lluvia,” he called out softly, surprising her. “I see that you’re not exactly feeling well...”
“N-no...” She sighed and shook her head. “I’m fine.” Despite saying this, her tanned face almost seemed a little redder. “So. What’s on your mind, Balor?” she asked, while staring directly at the burgundy liquid within the glass cup.
“You remember Wheedle, right?”
That nearly made her jump, but she inhaled deeply. “Yep. What about him?”
“You have history.”
Ah (Lluvia couldn’t help but smile) a statement. Not a question in any way -- a simple, straight forward statement, coming from the merchant who knows the sleazy businessman, and the farmer herself, well enough.
Lluvia chugged some of her wine, and felt the burning sensation of alcohol run down her throat, to the rest of her body. She then let out a heavy, almost satisfied sigh, and locked eyes with Balor. “Unfortunately, yes,” she answered. “We certainly did, but only briefly. Why?”
“Sorry if I brought any unhappy memories. I was just wondering, because I couldn’t help but notice how you two didn’t really ‘greet’ each other when he... Well, you know.”
There was a pause. “It’s not exactly ‘unhappy’ memories,” the farmer finally began while waving her hand dissmisively, “But it wasn’t ‘happy’ either. You see, before I came and settled down in Mistria, I spent a good few years traveling by myself. I tend to do oddjobs for little payment, because it’s the only way I could get by, but I couldn’t complain that much about it. Despite what you might think, I am on good terms with my family, but I wanted to get out there by myself with no help. Unfortunately, when you got a traveller with zero experience in business, then you got an easy target.”
“Oh. That’s unfortunate,” Balor said, before taking a sip.
“Yeah, but it’s more my fault than anything. I knew of Wheedle's reputation before meeting him myself for the first time, but I didn’t really know, you know?”
“I know...”
“Then you know.” Lluvia took another sip of her wine, but it seemed that she was starting to get tipsy already. Either that, or her anxiety is rising higher as she spoke. But with another deep breath, Lluvia pulled herself together to explain herself further.
***
Sure, there were plenty of rumors, and I heard enough of them to get the picture about Wheedle, but I still couldn’t help but be curious. I first saw his caravan in some town, where he was peddling his oh-so-famous snake oil, and other expensive wares that seemed like a good deal. Then there were things he most likely found in some trash before “cleaning” it up in an attempt to sell.
And as if he could smell blood in the water, he knew fresh meat when he saw me.
“Good afternoon, young miss!” he yelled towards me, but I was too stunned to register it at first, so I simply pointed at myself. “Yes, you, the lady with the purple hair! You know, I can’t help but think that maybe you are missing something...”
Despite having a crowd, he would approach and focus entirely on me, sizing me up from to head to toe. To say I feel creeped out is an understatement, but he knew when to back off, it seemed, by how he read my discomfort on my face and stepped away. “Perhaps... Ah! Yes, yes!”
If he wasn’t before, Wheedle certainly turned up the salesman persona as he went back to his stall to fetch something from within a box. Then he came back to me, holding a silver hairpin.
Now, at first, it was a pretty normal hairpin, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what I really wanted -- which he knew!
So he continued with his sales pitch, “You see, this pin is no normal hairpin! The jewels are made from the most rarest type of diamond! And when it’s night, the moon will change it’s color from white to blue! Now, I normally would sell it for about... Hm. Three hundred thousand Tesserae, but for you, young lady, it’s only... five thousand! Now isn’t that a steal?”
He was full of it. I knew. But again, my curiosity got the better of me. What if it was true? What if it did change colors? I couldn’t help but give him the five thousand, which was a little more than half of my Tesserae at the time.
“Sold! Thank you for your business, my violet haired friend.” He gave me that businessman smile, before clapping his hands to grab his potential customers attention. “And that, is another successful sale! Now come on, everyone, rare deals like that doesn’t happen often! So,” he would wave them over as he approached his stall, “come along, and get yourself something truly special!”
As baffled as I was, I left that stall, holding the hairpin in my hands. So many questions ran through my mind, but truth be told, I don’t think I had regret it that much. Until it fell apart the moment I tried to put it on. That “hairpin” was literally held together by glue, sticks, and fake stones.
***
“Wow... I’m sorry to hear that, Lluvia,” Balor spoke up.
“Ah, but that wasn’t the last time we would meet,” Lluvia continued, almost slurring her words.
***
It was a few months later. I had a bit more experience as a traveller, and I knew Wheedle’s schemes well enough. But I never hated him. Sure, I didn’t like him either, but if I had to be honest, I blamed myself more over that hairpin incident, since I knew better.
We crossed paths a few times before then, but not that often that I really got to know him personally. Except, for one time, when I was winding down from a really difficult job of transporting materials from some mines to a nearby town. While the physical labour wasn’t that bad, the “supervisor” at the time got on my back for “not being careful” with their “valueable assets”. I knew what I was doing, but man, I wanted to toss all the stones and crystals over a cliff by “accident” and leave them upset. But, I needed money, so I had to comply.
Normally, I am not a drinker, and truth be told, I actually didn’t drink any sort of alcohol at the time, but I was upset, and just needed to find someway to cool off. So, I spent some time at a bar, just pretending to drink beer, when in reality, it was just water, hoping that I get to find someone to keep me occupied for a night.
And though there were a few people that I exchanged looks with, in came the greaseball himself, Wheedle, and without asking, took a seat besides me. Because of him, people avoided looking at me, which made me feel worse. But I didn’t have a reason to move, nor did I want to ask him to leave.
But I tried to ignore him, as he ordered some sort of drink off the menu, then turned to me, recognizing me immediately. “Oh, I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said.
“What does that mean?” I replied, trying to be cool, but I guess I acted rather snappy from how he raised his hands in defense.
“My apologies, young miss,” he returned in a feigned apologetic manner, but that smug smile never went away. “What I mean to say, is that you certainly don’t look as if you belong a bar like this. If I recall correctly, I sold you something once, didn’t I?”
I should had ended the conversation there, and while I’m sure Wheedle gets his fair share of mistreatment from... well, everyone he swindles, I didn’t exactly have it in my heart to push him away. As I said, I didn’t hate or liked him. “Yep,” I answered, “a ‘silver hairpin’... That wound up being trash.”
It took him a moment to actually remember it, then he snapped one of his fingers at me. “Ah, yes... Well, no refunds, unfortunately. As per my policy.”
My eyes rolled so hard from that, I thought they were going to pop out.
As soon as he got his wine, Wheedle popped it open, and said something about putting it on his tab to the bar owner, much to their chagrin. He then turned back to me. “How about some wine, my violet-haired friend?”
“I’d rather not,” I answered. “I’m... fine.” I didn’t want to tell him that I didn’t want to get drunk because I was seeking company.
“Is that so? Then how about this, we share something about each other. Now, I am for certain that you know my name, but I don’t have yours. How about it? Information for information?”
I paused. “Why?”
“I suppose there is no real need for it, however, I couldn’t help but notice that you were struggling with... an overbearing boss today. Now, I have an inkling that you can take care of yourself well enough, young miss, but you don’t seem to have the experience -- like your’s truly -- to handle such people. Now, I don’t really do this often, but--” “Please drop the sales pitch, Wheedle.”
If he was upset at me for interrupting him, he didn’t show it. He kept that smug smile on through out our conversation.
“Very well. So, what do you think?”
Now, there is a certain saying that comes to mind about being fooled twice, and while I wasn’t in a good mood, that night was already terrible, so I might as well see how it goes. “Fine,” I said, and just like that, he caught me. Wheedle was baiting me, and I decided to get hooked out of my own free will.
There wasn’t even a single drop of alcohol in my system to influence me.
“I’m Lluvia,” I told him.
“Lluvia?” He smirked. “Now that’s not a bad name at all... Tell me, Lluvia, where did you come from?”
“No, no, Wheedle. I gave you my name.”
“And you know mine.” He winked at me, which made me want to punch him.
But I kept my cool. “Okay, so I already know yours, but maybe you could give me tips then?”
That got a laugh out of him, much to my surprise. “See, now you are starting to understand, Lluvia. Now, here’s what you should be doing...”
We actually did talk for a good few hours. Even though I shouldn’t, I did listen, and took some of his advice when I did some work here and there. In return, I told him about myself, my family, and where I came from. All potential blackmail material, sure, but if there is one thing I know, is that my family can protect themselves.
Eventually, we had to leave, which was fine by me. He didn’t seem intoxicated at all when we had left. In hindsight, I should had realized he didn’t drink that much. Instead, he held that nearly full bottle of wine he ordered. “If you honed your skills, you could absolutely fool anyone by pretending to be drunk.”
That caught me off guard. “W-what do you mean?”
Wheedle looked down at me with that smile that I grown all too familiar with that night. “I’m surprised that such a lovely young woman such as yourself was alone in that bar, filled with all sorts of people that were seeking for company... But, despite all the looks exchanged, a move wasn’t made. What a pity.”
“Hey! I-” “The lack of ‘liquid courage’ can only get you so far, Lluvia.”
That got me very upset.
Because it was Wheedle told me the biggest truth I needed to hear.
And I hated that.
So much.
That I made the riskiest offer I ever made, without thinking it over.
“Then how about this for an offer -- Since I had wasted the night with you, you make up for it by satisfying me!?”
That certainly got a double take from him.
Until he smiled. A smile that looked as if I made a deal with a devil. “Are you aware of what your consenting to?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied firmly.
I know what I was getting into. And neither of us backed down from that “offer”.
***
“Wait, wait, stop, Lluvia -- What!?” Balor yelled out, snapping Lluvia to the present.
“Huh?”
“You-- Wheedle-- What?!”
Lluvia didn’t realize that they had changed locations from the upper floor of the inn, to his bedroom. This might lead to some unfortunate assumptions from others, she thought, then noticed how the bottle that Balor ordered is now empty.
“Lluvia,” Balor said in disbelief. “Lluvia...” he then sighed out of disappointment. “Lluvia!” he snapped from frustration.
“That’s me,” she giggled. “How can I help?”
“Wheedle? Wheedle?”
“Oh, he had helped me out that night! You know, despite what you might think, it was pretty--” “Stop right there! I don’t want to hear it! Just... Ugh..”
The incredible amount of disgust from knowing about Lluvia’s past will never be washed off, much to the farmer’s ignorance. Balor isn’t even sure if he wanted to look at her anymore for the rest of the night. However, her drunken state made it obvious that she couldn’t go home by herself.
Until it dawned on him. “Lluvia... Are you actually drunk?”
She simply gave him a smile, then got up from the chair that he helped sit her down in so she wouldn’t fall over. “I never liked drinking, if I am being honest... But, I will admit, I am feeling rather woozy right now...” Another laughed escaped from her. “I should go home now...”
Whether she is actually drunk or not, Balor couldn’t leave the farmer like this. Perhaps she was too afraid to share her past, without some of “liquid courage”, or it could all be an act. “Come on, Lluvia... Let’s get you back home.”
---
The very next morning, Lluvia felt as if her head was pounding. As she got up from her bed to walk over to her bathroom to gather some painkillers, the farmer started to wonder what had happened last night.
And as she swallowed the medicine, she then remembered the conversation she had with Balor... and her telling him the whole truth of her one night stand, which made her clutch head in painful embarrassment.
What made her feel worse was that she didn’t feel that much shame or regret of the encounter -- it’s the confession that bothered her the most.
Well, there is nothing she could do about it now... Time to suck it up, and start her day.